The industry’s self regulation has not been adequate.Duh. When is it adequate for any industry? See mortgage lending..
Privacy policies are not a good enough way to tell people what information is being collected about them.Who has ever read a privacy policy? Do you read it when your credit card company sends it in a mailing? Me neither.
The post also discusses the notion of "personally identifiable information," a vague concept that purportedly protects the user. And finally, it appears that the Internet industry has been wholly uncooperative in helping the FTC in this area. It appears overall that the industry has a long way to go...
Industry’s silence in response to F.T.C. staff’s request for information about the secondary uses of tracking data is deafening.
Almost as important as they fact that no one reads privacy policies is that they can be changed any time - and there's no way to decide to stay with the old one you signed up with. Much like credit card companies can simply announce new interest rates and terms, privacy policies are not regulated even in a way that seems obvious: making the one you accepted the one you are subject to.
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